


To The Last Man

by MusicActorsBooksCharacters_xo



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Beth is good, Daryl is strong, F/M, One Shot, Sad, Supernatural - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-02 00:19:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8643847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicActorsBooksCharacters_xo/pseuds/MusicActorsBooksCharacters_xo
Summary: A hollow cube of concrete, one way in, no windows.  No sound, no light, no crumb of comfort of any kind.  Day and night have no meaning here and given enough time a person could easily forget their own name.  "Be brave, Daryl Dixon."ONE SHOT





	

  "It wasn't your fault."

She looks down at him as she speaks, softly, barely more than a whisper of breath and she knows he's unable to see her but he needs to hear it.  He's breaking and it's ripping her apart, watching the man that was never afraid of anything disappear right in front of her eyes.   

Slowly she dropped to her knees, they pulsed painlessly at the contact of the cold floor and it hit her; the brutal reality that this is his home.  A hollow cube of concrete, one way in, no windows.  No sound, no light, no crumb of comfort of any kind.  Day and night have no meaning here and given enough time a person could easily forget their own name. 

It's suffocatingly quiet today, no music.  In the briefest moment of silence he has the chance to sleep.   She watches him twitch and shiver against the hard floor and bows her head,  a helpless spectator in his torture and for a brief second she considers  that this is her punishment.  This is the universes way of making her pay for her own stupidity.  It's less than a second, the time it takes for Beth to banish that train of thought, she's here for one reason only;

"You can survive this, Daryl."                           

Lifting a hand, Beth's throat convulses as she swallows hard, and touches her fingers tips to his skin. The gaping hole inside of her burns at the contact but she holds steady, brushing his hair away from his dirt encrusted skin.  She imagines him leaning back into her touch, his warmth seeping into her hand.  But she melts into him like ice-cream on a warm porcelain bowl. 

She almost keels over when his eyes flutter open.  He looks at her and if she could feel anything at all she knows it would be white hot pain. She looks back at him and almost breaks in two.  The fire in his eyes has been dowsed with ice, if anything it makes the blue more pale.  His eyes have sunken into dark hollows, his mouth broken in two and the way his eyes glance.. it's different.

Drawing in a shuddery breath, Beth wipes gently with her thumb at a stray tear sliding down Daryl's cheek.  She imagines him flinching, or so it seems in the dank darkness but there's still uncertainty. God, how badly she wants to be right.  She can't remember what it's like, having someone react to her touch but suddenly Daryl had - for the first time. 

"Daryl?"

He moves, slow, stifled and his face twists in pain but he doesn't say a single word. Not one. Complete and utter silence and Beth feels like a fool for even hoping.

_If you don't have hope, what's the point of living._

She wants to say more,  tell him everything she never got a chance to but light floods the closet room and Daryl jerks, his body pinned tight against the corner of the space.  

It's instinct the way she jumps to attention, shoving herself in between the scraggly intruder to shield Daryl from what may be to come. 

"Eat."  The faceless visitor threw something small and unpleasant smelling at him and once again they are plunged into stagnant darkness. 

 

There was no noise for a while. Until there was.  It echoed of a life before this; 

_Maybe I could have done something..?!_

It's short and sharp and unmistakable.  He's crying.  In the dim he rocks his head back and forth in frustration and despite the guards earlier words he's anything but lucky.  Maybe it's easier just to be dead? 

"No.."  As if she could read his thoughts Beth crouches low, tugging at the arms that surround his head as the music starts again, incessant and so loud her still heart trembles in her chest.

"It's not your fault! Daryl..please listen." 

Burning thoughts swarm him like bees at a hive, his eyes double in size when the music blasts louder and louder until there's nothing but static.  It's in this moment, this never ending moment where he can almost convince himself that he can sense her sitting beside him again.  If he tries, he can remember the feel of her hands, the light weight of her as she moved closer and leant against him.

  _You gotta stay who you are, not who you were. Places like this, you have to put it away._

He should have told her. He should have told her the moment that he realised he was in love.  But he didn't, and now he'll have to live with that for the rest of his life, however short it might turn out to be. 

_You're gonna be the last man standing._

Beth remembers that night, if she concentrates enough she can still feel the cool breeze, the hard porch under her legs and the light dusting of dirt on her skin.  She still believes it, even if she's not there to see it, she knows in the back of her mind that Daryl Dixon - the man she loves will be standing at the edge of the world as it fuses back together.  She knows he'll survive, escape this hell and rebuild with Rick and their family, just like they always talked about.   Maggie will have her baby, there'll be birthdays and summer picnics. 

"You'll be okay."  She choked. "That's all I want. You don't need me.  You're strong too."

It's not long before Beth can feel the ever- present darkness creeping up, crawling under her skin, wrapping around her useless lungs and clawing at the wounds inside her.  It's time to go.

The music eases to silence again and he stares straight into the sightless, empty void of nothingness and thinks of them and of _her._   Their faces linger behind his eyes, reminding him - holding him together piece by broken piece.  But he doesn't know if it's enough.. 

If he listens hard, Daryl swears he hears her voice in the blackness

_"Be brave Daryl Dixon.."_

**Author's Note:**

> This has been floating in my head for days now, I needed to purge so here it is. Short and sweet. I hope you like it. 
> 
> Let me know! 
> 
> P.S - Any Bethyl requests are very welcome. My tumblr is artemisxeros


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